Lights-out pitching sparks East Meadow

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The numbers put up by East Meadow’s pitching staff this spring are at the same time eye-opening and eye-popping. Looking at the staff’s miniscule 1.80 earned run average and its strikeout-to-walk ratio of 145-32, it’s easy to see why the Jets (15-4 overall, 12-3 in Conference AA-II) won their conference crown and earned a bye in the first round of the Nassau County Class AA tournament.

East Meadow closed the regular season with 11 wins in its final 12 games and allowed two runs or fewer in 10 of them.

Senior Joe Minucci burst on the scene in the playoffs as a sophomore, was the winning pitcher last season in the Jets’ only playoff win and then racked up impressive numbers as a senior. He won four games and had as many shutouts (three) as he did runs allowed. During the regular season he pitched 33 innings and allowed just 19 hits and seven walks with 45 strikeouts with a 0.63 ERA, all while pitching just three non-league innings after returning from an early injury. “He’s always been a hard thrower with a dynamite breaking ball,” coach John Marciante said. “But now it’s the command. It lowers pitch counts and lets him go deeper into games.”

Senior Matt Mascia was equally impressive on the mound, posting a 4-1 mark overall with 30 strikeouts and 10 walks, including a complete game six-hitter in the second game of the final regular season series with Baldwin on short rest. He struck out five and allowed one run, just three days after scattering five hits across five innings in a 13-1 win over Herricks. “He’s just got that football mentality [and toughness],” Marciante said of Mascia, who was also a star lineman for East Meadow on the gridiron.

Senior Ryan Wallstedt won four of his six starts and had a strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 4-to-1, while the bullpen featured senior Matt Gold (no earned runs allowed in relief) as the bridge to senior closer Connor Trebendis, who had three Conference AA-II saves and a 0.91 ERA.

But as much as the pitching staff carried the team, the offense came alive down the stretch, generating 40 runs over the last four regular season games that included a three-game sweep of Baldwin. Senior Frank Ippolito drove in 10 runs in the three games, including a pair in East Meadow’s 5-0 win in the finale on May 11. Ippolito, who’s transitioned from shortstop to the outfield, has also thrown out four runners from his new position, while senior catcher Joe Gangi has thrown out 40 percent of the runners trying to steal a base, while also hitting .407 and leading the team in doubles (seven). Senior Zach Fritz, meanwhile, has hit .452 and drew 14 walks in 15 Conference AA-II games.